So something that is also very important when owning a rabbit is nail and coat maintenance. Whether you have a long haired or short haired rabbit it is still important that you groom your bunny at least a couple times a week, and if you do have a long haired or fine haired rabbit then everyday grooming can be a necessity. Rabbits keep them selves relatively clean and you should NOT have to bathe a rabbit, but regular grooming can help to remove loose fur which can save your rabbit from hairballs and also reduce the amount of hair in your rabbits environment. I try to groom Dustin around 3 times a week and he usually quite happily sits there and lets me do it. Nail clipping is also important and should be done as regularly as need be, if rabbits nails get to long they can start to curve over and damage the foot and make it uncomfortable for your rabbit to move around on, also long nails can scratch quite badly when handling the animal. As with any other animals nails it is important to avoid the quick as this can be painful if cut, I just recommend doing more regular nail clips and just removing the tips of the nails each time, I usually do this about once or twice a month. Dustin hates me doing his nails so it is a battle where I am forced to restrain him in a towel and extract one foot at a time, takes him a while to forgive me afterwards as well!! I have just attached a photo of the grooming products that I own, which includes a rabbit slicker brush which remove loose hair really nicely and a rabbit nail clipper, you want to make sure you don't have to big of nail clippers as rabbits nails can be quite small and the bigger the clippers the more likely you might nick the quick.
Just wanted to post some cute photos of Dustin enjoying his outdoor pen, we have moved into a new house now and he has heaps of room indoors to run around (2 whole rooms) but he always enjoys an hour or so a day out in his outdoor running eating grass and lying in the sun :). As you probably can see I have not got that many toys in his outdoor area just because whenever I have had toys he has little interest in them as he is more in there to eat grass and his toys just end up getting ruined outside. Just a quick reminder for bunny owners please make sure you are up to date with your RCD/RHD vaccinations outbreaks are common at this time of year and there have been some deaths in the Palmerston North area so please keep your bunnies safe, vaccinate them and try and reduce fly and mosquito contact as well as contact with wild rabbits!!
So just quick update on a toy I bought recently which I think is quite cool and Dustin seems to like. It is the trouble and trix photo booth which is actually a cat toy but I thought it would be quite appropriate for a rabbit. It is pretty much a fancy box but it is quite tough and it has a cardboard bottom which is for cats to scratch up but I thought it would be quite good for Dustin to dig on... which he has already started to do. It is also a nice area for him to sit in when he is running free in the living room but he also enjoys sitting on top of it, he has not chewed it up yet which is also nice because it is quite costly for a fancy box but he likes it so I don't mind spending the money :) I just realised I have put nothing down about good quality treats for rabbits! So of course with treats don't overfeed with them and often there is a lot of options like fruit and carrot pieces as treats instead of store bought ones. I agree with fruit as treats and I will occasionally give Dustin some strawberry or a bit of apple as a treat but there are a few store bought treats that I do really like to give to Dustin. So the first one is the Tui gourmet rabbit and guinea pig treats, these are pretty much little hard, square treats with pieces of pellets, dried fruit, vegetables and nuts. Dustin really likes these and it is the first thing he will take out of his bowl if he has one in his breakfast... I really like them because they keep him busy and they are very hard so are good for his teeth. The next treat that Dustin absolutely loves is HealthyBites Nutri-care treats for small animals. This is a crispy cereal shell with and apple flavoured filling and he will do anything for these treats half the time I can't get the packed open fast enough for him!! They work great when I really need him to go back into his pen when I am putting the animals to bed for the night :) There are these brand new treats that have just come into the pet stores called nibblots and I am very excited to try them out... I think they are very similar to the nutri-care range (made by the same people) but they have 3 different flavours; apple, carrot and berries so I will be keen to see what Dustin thinks of the other flavours, I will let you know how they go! Dustin's outdoor housing hasn't changed a huge amount, I have just detached the hutch from his run and have put it in the corner of the garden as I won't really be using it any more. Then I just closed up his exercise run.. which is also off trade-me and is 8 panels 60cm wide and 76cm tall, but I have netting over the top to protect Dustin from cats and stop him jumping out. I have just used simple garden netting I got from Mitre 10. I have put a couple of things in the exercise run.. he has a cat tunnel, his plastic castle, a box with openings cut into it and a egg carton to chew on, most of the time in there he just feasts on grass he also has a big bowl of fresh water always avalible :). So the new routine is each morning and evening he goes out in his exercise run for a couple of hours, unless the weather is really horrible!! It is nice for him to get some fresh air a bit of sun and grass... I also have a piece of tarpaulin over half of the exercise run so he can have some shade and protection from any rain. So last night I was up quite late watching youtube videos and making some toys to put in Dustin's new indoor pen. They were super easy and cheap to make, all you need is cardboard, empty paper towel roll and some scissors. I made two cardboard woven mats and a swirl toy they actually turned out pretty good especially as I am not that good at arts or craft things! I got the ideas from 101rabbits (ill post the links) on youtube which is a great site for ideas on toys and housing!! I hope that he will enjoy these toys he has not shown much interest yet but maybe once he gets use to his new freedom he will have a chew on them! Wooven mat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttW03SEKQmQ Swirl toy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2U35B5mxl4 Plus I just made a throw/chew toy out of toilet paper rolls, I just cut them into thirds and tied them together with some string! Exciting news Dustin's indoor set up is finally finished!! It is not as big as I would have wanted but it is a good size for him as he gets a lot of time out of it and for our small house at the moment it is big enough :). So I have a few photos, pretty much I just have a pet shop bought cage which I have placed inside a dog exercise pen. Now I got the pen off trade me as they are way cheaper from there then from petshops... I got it for about 50 buks (including shipping) and has 8 panels that are 60cm wide and 90cm tall so there is no way he is jumping over it!! I went for a bit of shop today to look for flooring to put on the floor of the exercise pen as I don't want him directly on the carpet as we are renting and he tends to dig and chew it.. so I went into carpetcourt and got a offcut of vinyl for like 20 buks which I just cut to size and placed in the pen so I was happy with that :) I also picked up some grip rubber mats from mitre10 for 3 dollars which I have put on some parts of the vinyl to give him a bit more grip but I have to keep an eye on him because I am afraid he is going to chew them up!! I bought some fleeces from the warehouse for 3 dollars each I have put one over the top of his cage to give him a bit of privacy in his cage and also cuz he likes to sit on top of it so means he doesn't have to sit on wires... I may also place one down on the vinyl but we will see because he really doesn't like towels or blankets so he will probably chew it up. Last of all I have covered half of the top of the exercise pen with a old sheet,, purely because I don't want him going ontop of his cage and then jumping out. Here is an example of what I feed Dustin, this is what he got for breakfast this morning :) So on the bottom right is around 1/4 a cup of burgess excel pellets and above this is a tui gourmet rabbit and guinea pig treat which he loves and is nice and hard so helps wear his teeth down. Then I have his vegetables, this morning he got bok choy, a small piece of carrot, yellow capsicum and broccoli (stem and leaves) adding up to around a cup. He gets his veges and half his pellets in the morning and then I will give him the rest of his pellets in the evening.
Rabbits are actually very clean animals so it is important that their cages are kept clean and tidy, for health reasons as well it is important animals enclosures are cleaned regularly. My cleaning routine includes every day or every other day carrying out a spot clean of Dustin's toilet area, his bed area in his outdoor hutch and now that he is inside his litter tray, so this involves removing some of the dirty bedding and replacing it with clean bedding as well as giving him some fresh hay. I will also do a quick brush of the cage to remove any poos or kicked out bedding but Dustin is usually pretty good at keeping it within his litter tray. I then carry out a full clean once a week which involves washing out the cage/hutch and placing clean bedding in the bedding area/litter tray. I clean out Dustin's bowls each morning but I clean out his water bottle thoroughly once a week as well. I am personally not a huge fan of the use of disinfectants with rabbits as I don't always trust how healthy they are to use within the cage or hutch. Usually I will use very hot water and thoroughly scrub the dirty areas of the cage/litter tray. Recently I have been using a new product that has arrived here in NZ by KAYTEE which is a clean cage habitat deodorizer and I find it quite good for cleaning and giving the cage a good smell, it is non-toxic and leaves no residue and you simply spray it within the cage and wipe dry. With your own bunny you will come up with your very own cleaning routine just make sure you keep their cage clean and give it a thorough clean at least once a week :)
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